I always have difficulty in my personal application of scripture, I have this voice which continually screams "who do you think you are" when I prayerfully try to place myself into a particular story of scripture. Like Elijah, I have learned to recognize that that is not God:
1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a "A strong heavy wind was rending the mountain and crushing rocks before the Lord-but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake-but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire- but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave."And this has helped me to see ways of dealing with the trials, temptations and turbulence that rage on and will continue to until the end of time. In fact, what is brought out might not seem to be a solution, or a way of dealing with these events. It it might seem to be nothing, a breath of wind or a phantom of my imagining!
The Psalm declares that God comes to us in kindness and peace, all around us all hell may be breaking lose, do we lose sight of the Lord? I cannot tell anyone that it is easy to focus on the Lord when the confusion, disruption and uncertainty of life seem to demand that you let go of all that "contemplative stuff" and grasp at controlling your chaotic life! I can say that God will come to you, and he does not need you to be sitting in a cave waiting for Him! And whether you realize it or not at the moment He brings with Him peace and salvation.
Not that I have any authority, or even any expertise in the way of prayerful scripture reflection, I react the same way many people do during times of intense physical, or psychological struggles! I forget about everything else and worry that I will never ever, ever, recover! In fact I can become so distracted with my problems that I cannot even focus on prayer or scripture, the words cannot even formulate in mind! Paul in his anguish over the unbelief of the Israelites does not fall into this trap, rather he relies on and perseveres in the Spirit to allow him to continue to speak the truth and God expanded his vision of who the Israelites were (Rom9:6-12).